Comforted
by Alchemygeek
Summary: It's Christmas day. Shouldn't everyone have a good time? Oneshot MonkxStalker


Alchemy: Well…I felt like writing this fic for X-Mas... And this is dedicated to my dear friend, Moussi. She's the one who inspired me to write this fic…Especially when she had to go take that cookie break…I didn't get a cookie!

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"_Who's that girl?"_

"_The one standing on the corner there?"_

"_Yeah, the monk."_

"_She's not exactly a monk."_

"_Hmmm? How so?"_

"_Apparently she's an ex-monk."_

"_Ex-monk?"_

"_She stopped believing."_

"_Oh… Why?"_

"_Dunno."_

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The girl sighed, sitting down on the snow-covered corner. Her legs were in the middle of the street, but she didn't care. It wasn't as if anyone was coming down the deserted road. Most people were at home, visiting their families and having a Christmas party. In fact, most of the guild had gone away to visit their families during the holidays. Some stayed here in Geffen, but it was only because they didn't have families to go home to be with. She pulled her knees up to her chest and placed her head atop them, her cheek resting on the blue fabric of her pants. Her deep sapphire locks covered her face from view, but she didn't care to brush them away. All she wanted was to be left alone…or comforted.

Merry Christmas, right?

The teen took a deep breath, watching as her breath came into view before the wind blew it away. It was weird, wasn't it? How people could get together and forget all their troubles?

She blinked and turned her head so her forehead was now touching her knees.

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"_She ever considered becoming something else?"_

"_Rumor says she has, but for some reason, she never does."_

"_Oh…Think she'll ever believe again?"_

"_Maybe. It all depends."_

"_Do you hope she does?"_

"_Yeah. She looks like she needs to believe."_

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A teenage stalker stepped out of the building behind the girl, a glass in his hand. He shut the door behind him, the door taking away the sounds of lively chatter from inside the warm house. The stalker walked over to the monk and tapped her shoulder with the bottom of the glass. She grinned as she looked up at him.

"Yuki. You look like ya need somethin' to drink."

The girl looked up and smiled softly, taking the glass of punch from her friend. "Thanks…"

"Like I said, you needed it," the stalker replied, taking a seat next to her. He looked up at the sky for a moment, watching as the snow fell softly to the ground.

"You're covered in snow," he suddenly said, looking over at his friend. "And you've been out 'ere a while. What's up?"

Yuki leaned her head against her friend's shoulder and shifted a bit so her legs were now laying straight in front of her, a trail of snow pushed to the side of them. "Just thinking," she replied softly. "I mean, Shoko…You remember what happened last year and all, right?"

"Yeah. How could I forget?" Shoko replied, putting his arm around the monk. He looked down at the snow-covered street. He was right. How could any of his friends forget what had happened last year? The day when their lives had changed in just a moment…It still felt as if it didn't happen at all. "You still thinkin' 'bout it?"

"Mhmmm…." She was starting to drift off into her thought again. Her eyes fell to the red liquid in the glass Shoko had handed her. "It's not fair."

"Life ain't fair."

"I know, but still…" Yuki sighed, watching as the liquid swirled around in her cup as she moved the glass around a bit. "It's still not fair."

"I know." He put his arm around her shoulders.

"Gerroff."

"No. You need someone to talk to, so 'ere I am."

"Right…" She closed her eyes and tried not to cry. "They didn't deserve it."

"I know."

"I know too…It's still…How could someone do something like that to them though? Let alone on Christmas Day?"

"Hard ta believe, but stuff like that happens."

"Why would anyone want to do something like that? Mom…Dad…It had been such a happy day, you know?" A few tears trickled down her cheeks.

"Yeah…I was there too."

"Everything was ruined in those few moments…Just those few moments…"

He didn't say anything in response as the monk began to sob. It had been a hard time for them all, but the one who had been hit the hardest had been Yuki.

Heh…That had been some Christmas.

He, Yuki, Vincent and Yuki's parents had been walking back to the girl's home after visiting a friend for a few moments. Yuki's sister, Dessie had stayed home with her friend, Emi, so they could cook the dinner like they had volunteered to do. Dinner had been on the table, the meat sitting in the middle of the table was piping hot, mashed potatoes melted the slabs of butter that had been put atop them.

The two young girls had never known their parents wouldn't come home that night…

The stalker sighed and pulled the sobbing girl closer to him, trying to get her warmer and give her a bit more comfort. The glass filled with punch slipped from the monk's grasp as she brought her other hand up to grab a hold of the fabric of Shoko's shirt. The glass clattered and broke as it fell to the ground, the punch changing the snow to a red color.

It had taken a few minutes for the monk to stop crying, and even after, the two hadn't moved, nor said anything else. They hadn't needed to. Both understood that there wasn't a need for words at this moment.

Yuki closed her eyes and moved a bit closer to the stalker so she could wrap her arms around his neck and let her own forehead rest on his shoulder. Shoko didn't complain and wrapped his arms around her waist in an effort to become a bit more comfortable.

The two stayed still like that, Yuki just taking a bit of comfort in knowing that her friend was there. Besides, she was warmer now, and she wasn't going to move away from the other and face the coldness of the night touch her skin again.

"You know…" Shoko broke the silence.

"Hmmm?"

"It's alright ta cry when you need ta. We can go visit your parents' graves tomorrow, k? I'm sure your parents would like that."

"Yeah…Thanks…"

"And you know, your parents wouldn't want you to dwell on the past either. They'd want you to look to the future."

"Yeah…"

They sat a few moments longer until Shoko spoke once more.

"Should we go back inside?"

"You can if you want. I'm going to stay out here a bit longer."

"Alrigh'."

The stalker removed his arms from around the girl's waist and got up. "I'll be righ' back then."

The monk nodded and shivered as the cold touched her skin. She took her index finger and leaned forward, drawing a few shapes in the snow.

Her finger stopped and the teen stared at the small drawing in the snow, a small smile forming on her lips. Shoko was right. She needed to look to the future and not to dwell on the past and she couldn't do that if she didn't have fun while she could, right?

Yuki chuckled.

"What's so funny?"

The girl turned around to see Shoko walk out of the building once more, this time a wrapped parcel was help in his hands. He took a seat behind the girl and pulled her back a bit so she was leaning against his chest. "Here."

The stalker handed the monk the sloppily wrapped gift, blushing slightly as she took it from him.

Yuki laughed at the look of the object, but opened it anyway. Her eyes widened as she gazed upon her gift, a small plush Munak doll. The girl looked up at Shoko.

"Merry Christmas," he replied to her curious look and wrapped his arms around her waist once more.

"Wow…How'd you?"

"Don't ask…It took forever to get you one of those."

"…Thanks." She closed her eyes and leaned her head against his chest, holding the doll close to her own chest.

"By the way…"

"Hmmm?"

"Why do you stay with us for the holidays, Shoko? I mean, you have a family and I'm sure they'd love to be with you…And your siblings? They'd want to see you…"

"Why do I stay? Good question. I guess I wanna stay with my friends. You guys are like my family now. I've been with you guys for so long an' all and we've all been through a lot together. Besides, I can go see them later, you know? They have enough people to feed during the holidays. And it's not like I don't get 'em gifts. I had Dessie take the gifts to 'em for me last week when we were swamped with missions."

"Ah."

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"_That girl…I think she might actually get her faith back."_

"_Good. It looks like she deserves a second chance. Everyone should have one, right? And, it looks like she has someone to turn to when the going gets tough. She's lucky, and I just hope she realizes this…"_

"_Yeah. She's definitely lucky."_

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Alchemy: Sorry for any grammatical/spelling/any errors.


End file.
